Wake Forest Magazine, December 2004 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

E S S A Y
As the afternoon lingered on,
it felt like we could stay forever.
But there was one place we had to
visit while in Reggio—the church
of Father Gaetano. When is it open?
A cousin laughed and explained,
“For Catanoso, it’s always open!
It’s our church!”
So it is. The Sisters of St.
Veronica of the Holy Face,
from the order of nuns
my cousin founded,
were stunned to meet
their first American
Catanosos, and only
too eager to show us
around. “His example
and his virtue are so
strong,” Sister Fely
told me. “It lives with
us still.”
Little by little,
through relics, photographs
and a wall
exhibit dedicated to
telling the story of
this remarkable priest,
my cousin’s life began
to take shape. While
my grandfather was
finding his way in
America, Gaetano and
his nuns were hiking
into the poor, isolated
mountain villages of
Calabria. He felt closest to those
who had the least and he reached
out wherever he found them, even
if they were dying in hospitals, or
locked away in prison. Rarely thinking
of himself, he lived in squalor
but was never without hope. That
was the gift he shared with so many.
The priests and nuns who served
with Gaetano were convinced of his
saintliness. They began the process
of Catholic veneration shortly after
his death in 1963. In the 1980s, a
24 WAKE FOREST MAGAZINE
Word flitted across the
Atlantic to my family that
a Catanoso had been
beatified by the pope….
A near saint in the family
tree? My goodness. How
did this happen?
The Catanoso family reunited in Italy.
nun from his order, believed by
doctors to be dying from lung disease,
recovered completely after
touching his tomb and praying to
Gaetano so that she could continue
his work. Thus, the first miracle
was established and recognized by
the Vatican. A second miracle, the
one required for canonization, saw
a woman from near his village of
Chorio rising from what was
declared an irreversible coma. It
was verified a few years ago.
While talk of miracles and sainthood
is shrouded in so much
Catholic mysticism, the church’s
main criteria for canonization are
rooted firmly in this world. You
must live a life of heroic virtue where
faith and good works are forever
inseparable. We’re not talking about
winged angels, but rather those
people the pope deems devoted
friends and servants of God. Yes,
that’s my cousin,
I realized.
It was a lot to
absorb in one day, not
just the saint, but
everything, from the
time that Pina took my
face in her hands. As I
stood with Gaetano’s
nuns in the church
where his remains still
lay, I couldn’t help but
think about my grandfather
and the decision
he made a century ago
to leave this place. I
guess you could say it
divided the family. But
now it felt more like
he took the seed of all
this family’s native
goodness and planted
it on another continent
to flourish.
My head was spinning a bit when
Sister Alma broke my trance to tell
me, “You are very fortunate to have
the surname Catanoso.” I suppose
I’ve always felt that way. But never
more than at that moment.
Justin Catanoso (MALS ’93) is visiting
lecturer in journalism who has
taught writing and editing at Wake
Forest since 1993. He is also executive
editor of The Business Journal
in Greensboro, North Carolina.